The quarterly payments will increase by 25 per cent over the next five years. Prime Minister Mark Carney will try to reset his domestic agenda Monday with an affordability announcement that will include generous top-ups to the GST credit this summer, impacting approximately 12 million Canadians, the Star has learned. Carney is set to announce that the quarterly GST payments...
Two thirds think the Conservatives should replace Poilievre, including 27% of Conservative voters. Since a noticeable dip in November, approval levels for the Carney government have reversed course and sit at 64% nationally. Approval is over 66% in every region but Alberta, where it stands at 57%. Approval is over 60% with every age group. These are results from the...
U.S. President Donald Trump doubled down on his recent jabs at Canada by saying “Canada is systematically destroying itself” and calling “the China deal” a “disaster.” “Will go down as one of the worst deals, of any kind, in history,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Sunday afternoon. “All their businesses are moving to the USA. I wanted to see Canada...
Mark Carney has been circling the globe on government aircraft since becoming prime minister -- part of his efforts to secure new trade links and investment to double non-U.S. exports in the next decade. In just the first month of this year, he visited France, China, Qatar and Switzerland. The Prime Minister's Office seldom confirms trips months in advance, and...
Prime Minister Mark Carney insists Canada is not seeking a free trade deal with China, just one day after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened a 100 per cent tariff on Canadian goods, if it were to pursue one. “We have no intention of doing that with China or any other non-market economy,” Carney told reporters ahead of a Liberal caucus...
Two thirds think the Conservatives should replace Poilievre, including 27% of Conservative voters. Since a noticeable dip in November, approval levels for the Carney government have reversed course and sit at 64% nationally. Approval is over 66% in every region but Alberta, where it stands at 57%. Approval is over 60% with every age group. These are results from the...
Between January 12 and 16, 2026, Abacus Data surveyed 2,008 Canadian adults as part of a polling series with the Toronto Star examining public opinion about the Conservative Party of Canada and its leader, Pierre Poilievre. This second installment explores the composition and values of the Conservative coalition, with particular focus on the party’s base: the 23 percent of Canadians...
In the final days before the last election, Mark Carney decided to have a little fun with some hecklers who were dogging him on the campaign trail in Nova Scotia. Carney, who was being cast as a dangerous “globalist” in some conservative circles, interrupted his remarks to address the hecklers. “It’s OK, we’ll get to the World Economic Forum in...
While Ontario Premier Doug Ford sharply opposed the federal government’s plan to allow 49,000 Chinese EVs into Canada at a low tariff rate — calling it lopsided and warning it would threaten Canada’s domestic industry — Prime Minister Mark Carney was quick to counter.
In cutting China deal and deriding economic coercion, prime minister opts for ‘hardball’ approach as crucial trade talks loom
SAINT-HYACINTHE -- Parti Quebecois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon says the referendum campaign for Quebec independence is already underway.
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s well-crafted and eloquently delivered speech at Davos has been widely noted, and I want to start by offering some praise of my own. The Prime Minister is right to restate what many have said for years: Canada must become more self-reliant, less dependent and work with like-minded countries to advance our interests. Conservatives are, as always...
I am writing these words on Robbie Burns’s birthday, in a snowbound New York City. My reason for travelling here was to join in discussions taking place on the 80th anniversary of the first meeting in London of the Economic and Social Council ECOSOC, the United Nations charter body created to focus attention on the economic and social challenges of...
Mark Carney’s Davos speech was billed as foreign policy. Fair enough. But it also feels like something you could easily imagine being the basis for an early election call.
Prime Minister Mark Carney spoke purposefully at Davos this past week about adopting a more nationalistic policy for Canada. Less persuasive was his call for a league of so-called middle powers to combine to influence the superpowers to set up what he called, in the current tedious jargon, ”a rules-based international order.” He is vaguely addressing, without recognizing directly, the...
Before Mark Carney spoke in Davos, French President Emmanuel Macron was on the same stage lamenting that the world is shifting to a place without rules, where the strongest dominate, pleading for a return to global co-operation. After Mr. Carney’s speech, U.S. President Donald Trump talked about dominating other countries, claiming he forced Mr. Macron to double French drug prices...
The phrase "rules-based international order" became popular among Canadian leaders starting in 2017. It is not exactly poetry, but it was meant to mean something — shorthand for the web of multilateral acronyms (the UN, the WTO, the IMF, NATO, the G7, the G20, NAFTA, among others) that arose in the wake of the Second World War, all of it...
There is a consensus both abroad and in Canada that Prime Minister Mark Carney’s January 20 speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos was highly successful in resetting the conversation on geopolitics and trade in the face of Donald Trump’s aggressive policies and rhetoric. But if Carney became a global geopolitical sensation after his Davos address, two days later...
The War of the Greenlandic Accession appears to have ended before it began, the President of the United States having supposedly negotiated a deal on the island’s future with the Secretary-General of NATO, a deal that a) no one can describe in any detail, b) neither of them has any mandate to negotiate and c) appears to amount to a...
My goodness, how the world — or at least the anti-Trump part of it — has fallen in love with Mark Carney’s Davos speech. A fairly typical example: in the New York Times, columnist David French hails what he calls the “Carney Doctrine” and says his speech “might be the most important address of Trump’s second term so far.”
Mark Carney’s now-legendary speech at the World Economic Forum inspired thousands of Canadians, impressed his fellow world leaders, and triggered an entirely predictable temper tantrum from Donald Trump. But maybe the most impressive thing it did was shut Pierre Poilievre up for a couple of days.
Power & Politics' Political Pulse Panel breaks down duelling speeches at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, this week.
Prime Minister Mark Carney gave a great campaign speech Thursday. The only thing missing was the election. Might a snap federal vote be coming? Probably not, but it must be tempting for the Liberals. One symptom is obvious. They’re already road-testing their campaign pitch. At the start of a cabinet retreat in Quebec City, Carney gave a long pep talk...
The cognitive decline of former U.S. president Joe Biden was undeniable, minutes into his 2024 debate with Donald Trump. He looked confused, bewildered, and couldn’t complete a thought. The people around Mr. Biden had clearly been aware that he was losing his faculties, which is why, for months prior, he had largely been hidden from public view. But that decision...
Jamil Jivani, the Conservative MP, and American Vice-President JD Vance are close friends. A Black guy from Toronto and a white guy from Appalachia, they bonded at Yale Law School where, as Mr. Jivani recalls, they felt like “fish out of water” at elitist wine-and-cheese liberal gatherings. At Mr. Vance’s 2014 wedding, Mr. Jivani read a Bible passage. He helped...
At the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday, Prime Minister Mark Carney gave an address that will go down in history as one of the most important and impactful ever delivered by a Canadian leader to the world. At Quebec City’s historic Citadelle on Thursday, he followed it up with a speech to Canadians which, for both its timing...
“The international rules-based order is dead; long live the international rules-based order.” Article content Those weren’t the words used by Prime Minister Mark Carney in his historic speech to Davos this week, but they might as well have been. The Canadian leader climbed onto the stage at the yearly conclave of financiers and political leaders (and David Beckham) to declare...
It was a tale of two speeches. Prime Minister Mark Carney quoted Greek historian Thucydides, cited Czech democratic hero Václav Havel and outlined how the old systems of the liberal order were over.
Prime Minister Mark Carney sought to insulate himself from criticism in a speech to the World Economic Forum this week, that was praised for being cleared eyed about the shifting world order, but that also signalled a shift away from an era of principled foreign policy.
Prime Minister Mark Carney chose the Davos World Economic Forum as the moment to deliver a speech that will now define the response of the world to the erratic excesses of the “hegemons” — the big powers who guided the establishment of the United Nations in 1945 and all the other key elements of the “rules-based order” we have been...
Louis XIV, the Sun King. What if, in the ruins of the liberal international order, the world is spiraling back, not to the fascist 1930’s, not to the gunboat imperialism of the late 19th century, but all the way back to the rule of warrior princes and their predatory cliques in early modern Europe? That’s where two American political scientists...
Well, that got their attention. Since the Prime Minister’s visit to China, the American media – and social media – have been filled with expressions of shock and amazement. For critics of Donald Trump, it was payback for his bullying and abusive treatment of America’s nearest neighbour and historic ally. For the President’s supporters, it was a sign of Canadian...
Prime Minister Mark Carney gave a good speech at the World Economic Forum, but the PM himself said in May that Canadians will judge his leadership “by their experience at the grocery store, when they are paying their electricity bill, when they or their children are looking for a place to live.”
One of the most sage voices on social media in these nebulous days is that of Polish academic Slawomir Debski. To those lamenting that NATO is dead as a result of Donald Trump’s intrigues over Greenland, and the imposition of tariffs on allies that deployed troops to Greenland, he pointed out that the alliance has survived worse. He cited the...
For months, Mark Carney’s critics have dismissed him as bloodless; a central banker fluent in basis points but deaf to the anxieties of the average Canadian; a technocrat who lives in spreadsheets rather than the hearts of voters. But on Tuesday, on the world stage at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Carney demonstrated that what his opposition views as...
Mark Carney’s stark warnings are by now central to his politics. In April, he told Canadians the old relationship was over. For many months, he has been saying that the world is in a period of “rupture, not transition.” On Tuesday, he pointed to the danger of a new world of rapacious great powers and called for middle powers to...
SAINT-HYACINTHE -- A future Parti Quebecois government would not rule out oil or gas pipeline projects in Quebec.
Opposition members say they will press Prime Minister Mark Carney to back up his bold words about Canada's future with concrete action as Parliament resumes Monday after the holiday break. Carney returns to the front bench of the House of Commons after travelling the globe to spur exports and drum up investment from new sources amid deep uncertainty about Canada's...
You don’t need to look much further than Pierre Poilievre’s social media to see the sort of dilemma the Conservative leader is facing. Earlier this month, he praised U.S. President Donald Trump for his extraordinary capture of Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro. Two weeks later, he condemned the same president’s threats to acquire sovereign Greenland and backed Canada’s obligations as...
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada says it is closing seven of its research operations as part of the federal government's efforts to cut the size of the public service. The federal department said research centres in Guelph, Ont., Quebec City and Lacombe, Alta., as well as four satellite research farms across Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba are closing.
With Canadian travel to the United States in decline, one Alberta senator says it's time for Ottawa to consider a Canadian-specific program that would allow travellers to quickly pass through airport security lines. Sen. Paula Simons introduced a motion in the upper chamber last fall that, if passed, would call on the federal government to implement a trusted traveller program.
Senior Conservative sources tell The Hill Times that current party president Stephen Barber and Christina Mitas have been strategizing and reaching out to potential supporters ahead of the national council election at the end of this month. If re-elected for a second term at the Conservative Party’s Jan. 29-31 biennial policy convention in Calgary, Ontario national councillor Christina Mitas is...
International trade experts say U.S. President Donald Trump's latest threat to impose 100 per cent tariffs on Canada will hurt his own economy just as much, if not more, than Canada's. They say that means Trump may ultimately look for an off-ramp to avoid the economic damage, similar to walking back threats to impose tariffs on eight European countries last...
U.S. President Donald Trump is threatening Canada with 100 per cent tariffs over a trade deal with China, and in a social media post referred to Prime Minister Mark Carney as “governor." Reviving an insult he previously levelled at former prime minister Justin Trudeau amid threats of making Canada the 51st state, the president said in a Saturday morning social...
- Defence Minister David McGuinty says Canadians will never forget the sacrifices their troops have made for Americans and the NATO alliance in Afghanistan. McGuinty read a prepared statement to media Saturday afternoon on Parliament Hill has Liberal MPs meet to prepare for the looming sitting of the Commons. McGuinty did not mention U.S. President Donald Trump, who falsely claimed...
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal government is pushing back against U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest threat to impose 100 per cent tariffs on Canada if Ottawa makes a free trade deal with China, insisting there is no such deal in the works. Article content After Trump delivered the ultimatum on Saturday, Minister for Canada-U.S. Trade, Dominic LeBlanc, posted a response...
Nathan, a Toronto-based AI engineering manager for a Big Tech company, doesn’t take time off when he’s sick. Between coughing fits, he admits his work-life balance isn’t good. He asked that his surname not be used to avoid putting his job at risk. Federal and provincial governments have committed multiple billions of dollars to anchor AI infrastructure in Canada, courting...
SAINT-HYACINTHE -- At a key party convention in Saint-Hyacinthe, Que., this weekend, the Parti Quebecois is rallying supporters around the prospect of Quebec independence as the party leads in provincial voting intentions ahead of an October election.
When the Conservative Party of Canada’s national convention kicks off in Calgary next weekend, all eyes will be on the vote that decides Pierre Poilievre’s fate as party leader. But there’s another development the party has quietly approved already: a new “content creator” category of media accreditation that gives right-wing influencers the same access as the press.
China's envoy to Canada says the two countries "see eye to eye" on the need to support Greenland's territorial integrity and Beijing wants to play a productive role in the North -- even as analysts warn Moscow and Beijing are working together in the region. "China's consistent policy is to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries. That...
The member of Parliament representing Canada’s northernmost territory says ever since U.S. President Donald Trump began escalating his desire to control Greenland, constituents have been reaching out, concerned. Lori Idlout, speaking from Rankin Inlet, located on the western coast of Hudson’s Bay, where the federal NDP held its caucus retreat this week, recalls a phone call from one man seeking...
Carney Liberals return to House of Commons still short of a majority. Depending on who you ask, the Carney Liberals could be on the cusp of securing a majority — or triggering a general election. Senior Liberal sources say the upcoming sitting of the House of Commons has no clear outcome, as they try to advance their legislative agenda in...
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is calling on the prime minister to deliver results as Parliament resumes next week. In a letter to Mark Carney, Poilievre says he's offering to help fast-track policies to enact trade deals, make groceries more affordable, fix the bail system and approve major projects.
Standard news conference was abruptly called off Friday. Prime Minister Mark Carney had an eventful week that saw him try and reposition Canada on the world stage and host high-level cabinet meetings — but it ended with unanswered questions about what comes next. Carney was scheduled to take reporters' questions after two days of meetings with his front benches in...
Senior Liberals are recruiting a Toronto doctor to be the party’s candidate in University—Rosedale in an upcoming byelection to replace Chrystia Freeland. Dr. Danielle Martin, chair of the University of Toronto’s family medicine program, has become a preferred candidate for senior Liberals who believe she would represent the party well in the downtown Toronto riding.
Prime Minister Mark Carney may be currently more “focused” on his “ambitious” agenda than an immediate shuffle before Parliament resumes, but a reworking of the cabinet is still very likely to happen later in the winter, say Liberal strategists. The Ottawa bubble was simmering with speculation late last year that Carney (Nepean, Ont.) would shuffle his cabinet either before the...
Liberal cabinet ministers and former Armed Forces members are defending the sacrifices Canadian soldiers made in Afghanistan after U.S. President Donald Trump downplayed NATO troops' contributions in the war. Trump renewed long-standing grievances with NATO partners in a media interview on Thursday by disputing sacrifices made by non-U.S. troops. "We've never needed them, we have never really asked anything of...
Almost 10,000 federal public servants have received notices in the past week warning them that their jobs may be cut, say the unions representing them. The Public Service Alliance of Canada says more than 5,000 of its members received what are called "workforce adjustment notices" this week. They include staff working at Global Affairs Canada, Transport Canada, Innovation, Science and...
First, Mark Carney said the rupture is real and our days tied to the US are over. Twenty four hours later, Donald Trump implies "You better be careful Mark". More Trumpian insults directed at Canada followed So now, its game on, the fight is real and who knows just where it will all end up. So while Carney and his...
Prime Minister Mark Carney and his cabinet are using their second day of meetings in Quebec City to discuss safeguarding Canada's sovereignty, says a minister at the retreat. Speaking to reporters Friday morning, Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation Evan Solomon said ministers are focused on creating good jobs for Canadians and investing in key sectors to build "a...
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent commented Thursday on the separatist movement in Alberta — making him the highest-ranking member of the Trump administration to weigh in on the province's politics. While appearing on the right-wing TV station Real America's Voice, Bessent claimed Canada won't let Alberta build a pipeline to the Pacific. "I think we should let them come down...
https://www.hilltimes.com/story/2026/01/23/public-service-job-cuts-will-be-minimal-in-procurement-and-contracting-roles-says-pspc/488839/#:~:text=As%20workforce%20adjustment,government%20spending%20review.
Despite falling out of the news spotlight, affordable housing continues to be a priority for the Liberal government, says Shaun Cathcart, director and senior economist at the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA). “We’ve gone from our housing agency saying ‘we need to double construction, but there’s no way to do it’ to ‘we’re actually going to try to do it...
Canada’s two main political party leaders won’t boast about the connection, but they have at least one important thing in common these days: As a new session of Parliament opens Monday, they’re both sitting on hot seats. Facing upcoming periods that may well determine their political fates, Prime Minister Mark Carney and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre are both approaching hurdles...
Ryan Wedding, a Canadian former Olympic snowboarder allegedly behind one of the most violent drug trafficking organizations, was arrested, two law enforcement officials familiar with the investigation told NBC News on Friday.
QUEBEC -- Economy Minister Christine Frechette will officially enter the race to succeed Francois Legault as Quebec premier and Coalition Avenir Quebec leader on Sunday.
Leaders of law enforcement organizations expressed alarm Sunday over the latest deadly shooting by federal officers in Minneapolis while use-of-force experts criticized the Trump administration's justification of the killing, saying bystander footage contradicted its narrative of what prompted it.
Sen. Ted Cruz, the Texas Republican eyeing a 2028 White House run, torched Vice President Vance and ridiculed President Trump's tariff policy during private meetings with donors, according to recordings obtained by Axios.
Eyewitness videos showing at least one federal agent shooting and killing Alex Pretti, 37, in Minneapolis appear to counter the Trump administration’s description of events, presenting two starkly different narratives.
A federal judge hearing arguments Thursday over President Donald Trump's use of an 18th-century wartime law to deport Venezuelan gang members had a question: Could a president use the same law against a "British invasion" that was corrupting young minds?
In cutting China deal and deriding economic coercion, prime minister opts for ‘hardball’ approach as crucial trade talks loom
Ryan Wedding, a Canadian former Olympic snowboarder allegedly behind one of the most violent drug trafficking organizations, was arrested, two law enforcement officials familiar with the investigation told NBC News on Friday.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick called Prime Minister Mark Carney's speech at the World Economic Forum "political noise" and criticized Canada's recent deal with China today. Speaking on Bloomberg TV, Lutnick said Canada has "the second-best deal in the world" and accused Carney of complaining.
China's ambassador in Ottawa says Prime Minister Mark Carney's claim that Beijing is about to lift its visa requirement for Canadians is not yet official, suggesting the move is still under consideration. "I did notice that Prime Minister Carney made it public that the Chinese side told him that China is actively considering giving unilateral visa-free treatment to Canadian citizens,"...
As the first woman to serve as Canada’s ambassador to the United States, Kirsten Hillman has been described as a powerhouse of a diplomat by business, political, and diplomatic leaders from both sides of the aisle. Before being appointed acting ambassador in 2019 and getting the top job in 2020, Hillman served as deputy ambassador from 2017 to 2019, contributing...
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s visit to China will stand as one of the most consequential moments in Canada’s foreign policy. It not only reframed Canada’s relationship with China but also signalled a fundamentally new approach to how Ottawa intends to navigate a more fragmented, contested and uncertain world. On the bilateral front, the trip produced three tangible outcomes: a new...
Prime Minister Carney can be pleased with the results of his first official visit to China. Through a temporary trade truce, and a list of political, economic and cultural MOUs, the federal government has effectively reset relations with China to where they were in 2016, before the arrest of Meng Wanzhou at the request of the first Trump administration. The...
Prime Minister Mark Carney will travel to Beijing from January 13 to 17, marking the first visit by a Canadian prime minister to China since 2017. The trip comes amid mounting economic and political pressure from the Trump administration and reflects the Carney government’s stated objective to diversify Canada’s economic partnerships and double non-U.S. trade over the next decade. At...
A collection of SubStack publishing within Canadian public affairs.
Library and Archives Canada (LAC) gets a lot of flak for its processing of Access to Information Act (ATIA) requests, especially for its long delays to respond. But lately they’ve been doing a few things right.
A thorough media scan reveals practically no discussion about this important escalation, which would put Canada among only a few Western navies (the United States, the United Kingdom, and France) that operate submarine-launched land-attack weapons.
You may want to dust off your Bescherelles, Canadian politicos: the battle for the future of Québec is where things are going to happen in 2026. In case you missed it, today the new leader of the Québec Liberal Party, Pablo Rodriguez, announced his resignation. His resignation was precipitated by a terrible, scandalous month for the QLP — one that...
It was a speech heard around the world. In front of global leaders, Prime Minister Mark Carney laid bare Canada's new foreign policy vision: Middle powers need to team up — or they'll be on the menu for hegemons like Russia, China and the United States. Two former diplomats — American Ambassador Tom Shannon, who at one point held the...
Peter Mazereeuw speaks with former deputy prime minister Sheila Copps about Mark Carney's big speech at Davos, China, Trump and Greenland, a 2026 election, floor crossing, and more.
First, Mark Carney said the rupture is real and our days tied to the US are over. Twenty four hours later, Donald Trump implies "You better be careful Mark". More Trumpian insults directed at Canada followed So now, its game on, the fight is real and who knows just where it will all end up. So while Carney and his...
At Issue this week: Prime Minister Mark Carney outlines a new era of global politics in an address to the World Economic Forum, but can he deliver on his vision? And Ontario Premier Doug Ford fires back at the Canada-China EV deal.
